Apparatus for releasing bodies from aircraft



A. H. GLEDHILL.

APPARATUS FOR RELEAS| NG BODIES FROM AIRCRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1, 1918.

Patented May 4, 1920 8 SHEETSSHEET A. H. GLEDHILL. APPARATUS FOR RELEASING BODIES FROM AIRCRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1', 1918.

Patented May 4, 1920.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 2- J @3207 fg A. H. GLEDHILL.

APPARATUS FOR RELEASING BODIES FROM AIRCRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1 I9I8.'

Patented May 4, 1920.

8 SHEETSSHEET 3.

I:., q qu l l I I l IILLPI A. H. GLEDHILL.

APPARATUS FOR RELEASING BODIES FROM AIRCRAFT.

' APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1, I918.

1 ,338,724=. Patented May 4, 1920.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

A. H.. GLEDHILL.

APPARATUS FOR RELEASING BODIES FROM AIRCRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1, 191B.

Patented May 4, 1920.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

' A. H. GLEDHILL. APPARATUS FOR RELEASING BODIES FROM AIRCRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED AUGJ, I918.

1,338,724. Patented May 4, 1920.

8 SHEETSSHEET 6- i' inve/wr:

A. H,. GLEDHILL.

APPARATUS FOR RE LEAS|NG BODIES FROM AIRCRAFT. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1, 1918.

1,338,724. n e May 4, 1920.

A. H. GLEDHILL. APPARATUS FOR RELEASING BODIES FROM AIRCRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. I, 1918.

Patented May 4, 1920.

8 SHEETSSHEET 8.

an sparse raraa r or ies.

ARTHUR HENRY GLEDHILL, OF HALIFAX, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR RELEASING- BODIES FROM AIRCRAFT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR HENRY Gu n- HILL, a subject of the King of Great Britaln,

residing at Trinity \Vorks, Halifax, in the.

county of York, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Releasing Bodies from Air craft, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to flying machines such as are provided with apparatus for carrying a number or battery of bombs, parcels, mail bags or other bodies (hereinafter referred to as bombs), adapted to be released successively or at intervals. These bombs are usually suspended in a case containing a number of cells, one for each bomb and the cell cases are made interchangeable to carry differentweights of bombs, for example, one cell case might contain twelve cells arranged to carry twelve lb. bombs and another cell case might contain six cells to carry six 50 lb. bombs.

In apparatus of this class ithas customary to release the bombs singly and the present invention consists in providing means whereby any predetermined number of bombs can be released at'will and in any predetermined order, the numbers released being advantageously so arranged in relation to one another that each release does notmaterially affect the balance of the machine. For this purpose the bombs are suspended from releasing and locking apparatusactuated by timing slides to which motionis imparted from a control member, a preferred construction consisting in con-. necting'the slides together by links or plates so arranged as to give a triangular, or four point suspension to prevent any one slide from being moved in advance of another.

and thereby insuring accurate timing of the releases, the central point of suspension being connected to an arm of an L lever of which the other arm is adapted to be connected with the control member. To render the apparatus interchangeable all the L levers are made the same sizeand'occupy the same relative positions in each cell case so that they can be coupled up to the control member without making any adjustment.

Inthe accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan of a form of bomb release gear constructed in accordance with this invention, the locking and release units being omitted for the sake of clearness.

Specification of Letters Patent.

been

Patented May a, wee.

Application filed August 1, 1918. Serial No. 247,875.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of a form of control apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a. plan of the gate plate used in Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 is an elevation drawn to a larger scale of a portion of one of the beams showing the locking and release units and timing slides in position.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the beam draw to the same scale with a locking and release unit in position.

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are sections of a locking and release unit showing theparts in the .locked, free and releasing positions respeca cell case adapted to contain twelve 20 lb.

bombs.

Fig. 19 is an elevation and Fig. 20 an end View of a portion of one of the metal beams with the locking and release units in position. I

Fig. 21 is a plan of a bomb release gear i for use in'connection with a cell case to contain six 50 lb. bombs and made interchangeable with the gear shown in Fig. 18.

Figs. 22, 23, and 24 show a form of control apparatus for the release gears shown in Figs. 20 and 21.

A, A, indicate the bombs, A indicates the cell case, B, B, indicate the locking and release units, C, C, the timing slides and D the control member.

In Fig. 1, the release gear is shown applied to a cell case adapted to contain 12 bombs arranged -to be released three at a time, and two other bombs A A termed sighting bombs arranged to be released singly. Three rows of bombs are shown with four in a row and each bomb is provided with a separate locking and release unit B (Figs. 4 to 11). Each row of bombs is controlled by a slide C operatively connected with the locking and release units appertaining to the bombs in that row} .19 and 20.

and all the -slides are moved simultaneously step by step in an endwise direction against the action of springs c" by av sliding plate 0 arranged transversely to the slides and having inclined slots 0 engaging studs or runners c on the slides. The sliding plate 0 is connected by a Bowden wire a to the control member D. This member comprises a lever working in a slotted gate plate (I which causes a step by step movement to be imparted to the lever D, sliding plate and slides,.accidental return movement of the control lever from any of its positions being prevented by a pawl d engaging a ratchet (Z on the lever. In this example the slide appertaining to the sighting bombs A is actuated by a separate lever D working in a slot d in the gate plate d and connected with the slide by a Bowden wire d and L lever d which is slotted to engage a runner d on the slide. The locking and release units (Figs. 4-11) work on a similar principle to those described in my pending applications for Letters Patent. No. 9009/17 in cognate with 5786/17 and each unit comprises a bomb suspending hook or lever 12 and a combined locking and releasing lever b pivotally mounted between two side plates b whic i areconnected together by distance pieces 6 and supported between two beams b by pins or rivets b which passthrough the beams and side plates. In Figs. 1, 4, 5,

and 12 the beams are shown constructed of wood although they may be constructed of metal such as sheet steel as shown in Figs.

An operative connection between the locking and releasing levers b and theslides C may consist in forming in the latter a series of timing slots of varying lengths or shapes to receive abutments in the locking and releasing levers and cause same to be operated at the required times to release in the desired order the hook levers I) from which the bombs are suspended. This is effected in the apparatus shown in Figs. 1-12 by forming each lever b with an operative tail piece 6 and a locking tail piece I) arranged out of line with one another to enter two separate slots" or spaces 6 b respectively in the slide C. The locking tail piece I) bears against .asolid portion of the slide C when the latter is in its rearward positionas shown in Fig. 6 and maintains a. circumferential portion 'b in contact with a step b on the bomb suspending lever wit the result that the latter is locked in its holding position. The slide (1 rests upon the side plates b and is prevented from upward displacement by runners carried by the side plates 7F. The initial forward movement of the slide (.l removes the solid portion from the lockng tail piece as shown in Fig. 7 and prev sents the slot or space I) through which such tail piece can enter or pass with the result that the lock isreleased. Further forward movement of the slide causes a solid portion to actuate the operating tail piece b to turn the lever b on its pivot and .withdraw its locking surface I) from the step b on the bomb {suspending lever b as shown in Fig. 8 whereupon the weight of the bomb turns such lever until the bomb pieces I) and prevent furtherbackward.

movement of the slides. In this position the locking tail pieces take the tension of the springs c" fromthe Bowden wire 0* with the result that the latter together. with the control lever D remain loose and indicate to the pilot that all the release units have not been properly cooked or recharged. As each bomb is lifted into position to hook its suspension loop a on to its hook lever 7) the said loop engages a nose 6 on t-he bomb lever and turnsthe latter until the step 6 thereon is in position to be engaged by the locking surface I) whereupon a spr ng I) restores the latter to its locking position in relation to the bomb suspending lever and withdraws the locking tail iece out of its slot or space in the slide. the bombs appertaining to such slides have been hooked onto their respective levers and the latter latched, the slide is disengaged Vhen all from all the locking tail pieces and the l spring returns such slide .to its initial position (Fig. 6) in which the solid portions of the slide engage the eiids of the locking tail pieces I) and prevent the locking and releasing'levers b from being prematurely disengaged from the bomb suspending levers b. The return movement of the sliding bars to this position may bring an indicator into view bearing'the words Charged and locked or any other appropriate words {to show that this conditionhasbeen obtained. The operative connections above described between the slides and their respective leverscan be so arranged that any program. of bombs may be released as required. In the example shown in Fig. 1 the timing slots are so arrangedthat the firstfmovement of'the control" lever after moving the slides to the free position, re-

tion the separate locking tail piece is dis movement of the lever, the third, fourth and first bombs in the first, second and third rows and the fourth and last movement of the lever, the fourth, first and second bombs, in the first. second and third rows.

In the modification shown in Fig. 12 the slides C are actuated by a transverse bar engaging runners c on the slides. This bar is connected to the control lever 1) by a Bowden wire c passing over suitably arranged guide pulleys and is caused to receive a parallel motion by links 0' pivoted at one end to the bar and at the other end to pivots on the beams 5*, the return movement of the bar being elfectedby springs 0.

In the modification shown in Figs. 13 and H each locking and'release lever is controlled by a single'timing slot in place of two slots arranged out of line with one an other in each slide as previously described. In this modification the operative tail piece 6 and locking tail piece I) are still arranged out of line with one another but instead of the locking tail piece bearing against the slide when in its locking position it bears against a lug or projection on the underside of the slide. \Vhen the latter is moved to the free position the lug or projection clears the locking tail piece 6 and when the slide is advanced to actuate the operative tail piece 7f the lever Z1 .is turned to release the hook lever b, the locking tail piece I)" rising into proximity to the underside of the slide. the abutment 0 comes against the tailpiece Z and prevents further backward movement of the slide until all the release gears have been recharged whereupon theslide spring returns the slide to its initial and locking position.

In a furtherdevelopment of this construcpensed with and the operative tail piece in addition to passingthrough a slot inthe slide is also adapted to engage with a solid portion of such slide when the latter is in its rearmost position. For this purpose the operative tail piece 5 (Figs. 15 and 16) is formed on its underside with a lip 6 which occupies a position above the slide 0 when the locking surface I) engages the step b and when the slide is in its rearmost position (Fig. 15) this lip extends above a solid portion of the slide and prevents thebomb releasing lever from becoming unlocked. In this'construction when the slide is drawn 7 forward, it releases the lip b and subsequently depresses the tail piece 6 to release the lockingdevice fromthe bomb suspending lever and allow the bomb to drop, continued movement of the slide causing a solid portion to pass over such tail piece as shown in Fig. 17 and retain the locking device in its released position. The complete return movement of the slide is prevented by a lug On the return movement of the slide 0 on the slide which engages the forward end of the tail piece when the latter is in the position shown in F ig. 17 When however a bomb is lifted into position to hook it onto its hook lever, a loop a on the bomb engages the nose Z) on the bomb lever and turns the latter until the locking device returns to its normal position with the tail piece above the slide. have returned to this position the sprin a previously referred to, pulls the slide back to the end of its travel with the result that it secures all the locking devices in position against accidental displacement. This arrangement serves the double purpose of indicating to the pilot whether the cooking or recharging operations have been effected and whether the mechanism for holding the bombs is in its locked condition.

Referring to Fig. 18 it will be seen that the slides C are connected together by links I 0 arranged to givea three point suspension hen all the locking devices to prevent any one slide from being moved C which controls the sighting bombs. The

lever c or the lever c, if the sighting .bombs are dispensed with is connected by a Bowden wire 0* to a control lever D (Figs. 2224.) This lever works in a slotted gate plate d which causes it to receive a step by step movement, accidental movement of the lever from any position towhich it has been moved being prevented by a pawl 03 engaging with a rack d that is arranged in rigid connection with the lever.

The bomb release gear shown in Fig. 21 is adapted for use in connection with a cell casehaving six cells, the Llever being the same size and occupying the same position as the lever 0 in Fig. :18 so that it can be coupled up to the lever 0 or to the control lever D without the necessity for making adjustment. The beam and release gear appertaining to the sightingbombs are permanently. fixed to the framework of the machine and arenot removed withthe beams appertaining tothe cell cases.

at 'I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States is 1. In apparatus for releasing bodies from aircraft, a locking and releasing unit comprising a body suspension lever, a combined locking and releasing lever pivoted between twoside plates having rollers for guidance of a slide and guide slots for the passa e of a loop by which the body is suspended from the suspension lever, the latter having a step and the locking and releasing lever a circumferential portion adapted to be main-.

ing mechanism, a release lever having an,

operative arm'and a locking arm and a circumferential portion adapted to be engaged by the aforesaid mechanism and a slide hav-' ing slots working in conjunction with the said operative arm and locking arm.

4. In bomb release gear, the combination of a slotted slide, a locking and'release, lever having an arm formed with a lip adapted to pass through a slotted portion of the slide and engage a solid portion thereof and a bomb suspending hook adapted to be locked and released by the locking and release lever.

5. In bomb release gear, releasing and lockingv apparatus from whichthe bombs are suspended, timing slides for actuating such apparatus in any predetermined manner, a control member for imparting movement to the slides, means for preventing the slides from returning to their initial positions until all the releasing and locking apparatus have been reset, and means for indicating to the pilot whether the resetting operations have been effected and whether the mechanism for holding the bombs is in its locked condition.

6.In bomb release gear, a pluralit of timing slides, a connection for attac ing such slides together in' such manner that any one slide is prevented from being moved in advance of another.

7. In bomb release gear, a set of interchangeable bomb carrying beams, a series of timing'slides carried by such beams, an L lever for actuating such slides, a link for actuating such L lever and a snap joint for detachably connecting the link with the L lever.

8. In bomb release gear, a beam adapted to carry a plurality of sighting bombs, a timin slide appertainin to such beam, :1. set 0? interchangeable eams adapted to carry a plurality of bombs, timing slides apertaining to such beams, two L levers, one for actuating the slides appertaining to the sighting bombs and the other for actuating the slides appertaining to the other bombs,

a link for connecting the two L levers and' a snap joint for connecting such link to the L lever appertainin to the slides belonging to the interchangea le set of beams.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR HENRY GLEDHILL. Witnesses:

G. P. APPLEYARD, A. J. ROBINSON. 

